Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The cry of an abandoned baby on the outskirts of an old Cuban town attracts the attention — and then cracks open the life — of a wandering tourist. Mia, an out-of-work actress whose life is adrift, finds herself filled with purpose as she looks for a place the baby can call home. As with any odyssey, the way home is filled with twists and turns. The baby comes down with an infection, for which medicine is unavailable. Mia's self-absorbed boyfriend threatens to derail all her well-intentioned efforts. A local musician proves helpful to Mia, though his help comes tangled up with desire.

An approaching hurricane further complicates matters. As she falls more deeply in love with the baby, Mia makes increasingly drastic choices. Her fluency as an actress allows her to play a real life high-stakes role: she finds herself committing crimes for the sake of the child. As she says, Legal and moral are hardly the same.” Mockingbird is written in the first person, as a kind of exculpatory love letter to the baby, from Mia's point-of-view.

Review:

Julie Trimingham's impressive debut novel unfolds like a fever dream. Written with sensual and intoxicating prose, Mockingbird is an original love story that may linger with you long after you close this slender book.” Jim Lynch, author of Truth Like the Sun and The Highest Tide

Review:

Julie Trimingham's Mockingbird is a terrific read that will leave you questioning right and wrong, and the bond between mother and child. Trimingham's observations — of Havana's corroded beauty, of a lover who can't love, of a baby's easy joy — are not just exact but piercing. Literary yet fast-paced, electric yet refined, this is a hurricane of a book, by an author to keep on watching.” Kristen den Hartog, author of The Girl Giant and Water Wings

Review:

A novel of quiet passion and rare beauty, Mockingbird is a testament to the power of pure, uncluttered language — a confluence of feelings and physicality that will draw you back, line after graceful, memorable, line.” Gina Nahai, author of Caspian Rain and Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith

Review:

"Julie Trimingham's Mockingbird is a novel teeming with yearning, with the indescribable smells and tastes of Cuban ardor. This tale of passion and its smudged fate, its undeniable allure, intensifies with each improvised move, so that readers have to gasp for breath, yet cannot help but follow this impossible seduction, and the center of gravity that shapes the beauty known as longing." Aritha Van Herk, author of Judith and Audacious and Adamant: The Story of Maverick Alberta

"Review"
by Jim Lynch, author of Truth Like the Sun and The Highest Tide,
Julie Trimingham's impressive debut novel unfolds like a fever dream. Written with sensual and intoxicating prose, Mockingbird is an original love story that may linger with you long after you close this slender book.”

"Review"
by Kristen den Hartog, author of The Girl Giant and Water Wings,
Julie Trimingham's Mockingbird is a terrific read that will leave you questioning right and wrong, and the bond between mother and child. Trimingham's observations — of Havana's corroded beauty, of a lover who can't love, of a baby's easy joy — are not just exact but piercing. Literary yet fast-paced, electric yet refined, this is a hurricane of a book, by an author to keep on watching.”

"Review"
by Gina Nahai, author of Caspian Rain and Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith,
A novel of quiet passion and rare beauty, Mockingbird is a testament to the power of pure, uncluttered language — a confluence of feelings and physicality that will draw you back, line after graceful, memorable, line.”

"Review"
by Aritha Van Herk, author of Judith and Audacious and Adamant: The Story of Maverick Alberta,
"Julie Trimingham's Mockingbird is a novel teeming with yearning, with the indescribable smells and tastes of Cuban ardor. This tale of passion and its smudged fate, its undeniable allure, intensifies with each improvised move, so that readers have to gasp for breath, yet cannot help but follow this impossible seduction, and the center of gravity that shapes the beauty known as longing."

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